The T20 captain says somebody will need to step up to replace the runs England have lost from their star man

Proud: Broad also spoke of England's desire to retain their world T20 champions crown this September

Stuart Broad is ­confident England’s young Lions can retain their Twenty20 world crown – despite the loss of Kevin Pietersen.

T20 skipper Broad will get his first
taste of life without KP at Trent Bridge and ­remains confident his
26th birthday celebrations on his home turf will go with a bang as Andy
Flower steps up preparations for a ­defence of the crown in Sri Lanka.
Broad and team boss Flower are banking on Eoin Morgan and the
string of young pretenders, such as Jos Buttler and ­Jonny Bairstow,
rising to the ­challenge of filling the void left by England’s most
­destructive hitter.

The
debate about whether Pietersen should have been forced to quit both
forms of the one-day game rages on, thanks to the wording of ECB
contracts, but Broad wants to put the issue to bed in the four games
before England start in Colombo.

“He
obviously was a really good player and did some fantastic things. It
does not seem to have affected the one-day team a massive amount,” said
Broad.

“We can take heart
from that. It opens up ­opportunities for people to put their hand up,
like Ian Bell did scoring a ­hundred and winning man of the match on
his first game back. I think that is a sign of good character in the
team, when people get the opportunity to get in the team they take them.

“There is obviously an opportunity there for ­someone to put their hand up to be the king pin of our batting line-up.

“KP scored consistent runs for us at
No.3 and opening the batting in 20-20 cricket. Now, he is not there,
someone has got to do that.”

Broad has only a handful of warm-up
matches in conditions which will be in stark contrast to Sri Lanka in
September, but despite the inexperience in the dressing room, he
believes England have the talent to defend their crown.

“We
are very proud of that title and want to keep it. We have guys who have
­performed in domestic and international cricket here.

“Some may not have a lot of experience, but they have a huge amount of talent.”